Railway car construction



P 1932- w. P. MURPHY RAILWAY GAR CONSTRUCTION Original Filed Jan. 14, 1929 f iii Ewen for: WaiterPMurfhy flzforn e9 Patented Sept. 13, 1932 1 f: ,j v

UNHED STATES WALTER P. MURPHY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS ASSIGN 'OR TO UNION METAL PRODUCTS COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,

RAILWAY CAR Original application filed January 14, 1929, Serial N o.

1931. Serial The device relates to railway freight cars, particularly, to that class of equipment having doors which are opened or dropped to discharge part or all of the lading.

The object of the invention is to provide a spreader or beam for simultaneous operation of a pair of swingable doors in a rallway freight car, which spreader is operated by any of the numerous door raising mechanisms now being marketed. A further object of the invention is to provide such a spreader or beam with spaced apart portions, each of which engages one of the swingable doors so as to permit the door to adjust itself to the frame of the door opening about a substantially vertical axis by a pivotal and/or slidable movement. Any force applied by the operating mechanism adjacent the middle of the spreader is substantially equally distributed to the two doors, and furthermore, the force transmitted to one of the doors by the spreader is I substantially equally distributed to the opposite vertical edges or margins of the door. In my construction, if the operating mechanism closes one door first, the operating mechanism continues functioning until the other door is closed; furthermore, if one side of one door reaches closed posit-ion first, the operating mechanism continues to operate until the other side of such door reaches closed position; in fact, the mechanism operates until all four edges of the tWo doors reached closed position.

A further object of the invention is to reduce the cost and weight of the spreader and car by forming it of a casting so that the metal can be evenly distributed commensu: rate with the stresses.

Another object of the invention is to engage the spreader with the door adjacent a stiffening rib or ribs so that the stresses caused by the lifting of the door will not be taken by the body portion of the door.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 shows a typical application of my invention to a railway car.

Fig. 2 shows a pair of doors with my improved spreader.

,A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE,

coNsrituorroN V 332,323, Divided and this application filed June22,

N0. i i

Fig. 3 is an'enlarg'ed view showing the relation of the spreader and one of the doors. Fig. ashowsan end elevation of Fig.

- Fig. 5shows'a partial side elevation of-a car. 7

Fig. 1 shows a typical application of my invention to a typical so-called hopper car wherein the lower portion of the car on each sideof the center sills 2 or center ridge is formed into a' hopper, each hopper being 1 provided with a swingable door 3. These doors are-connected for simultaneous operationby a spreader 8 operated by a mechanism connected to the middle portion thereof and positioned-betweenithe center sills and under the ridge for protection from the ladingand provided with a; shaft extending to opposite sides of the car for operation by a wheelfor wrench. There are numerous types orhopper dump cars in serviceon the railways with the hopper sopositioned as to discharge the load between the rails and some designed to discharge the load outside of the rails. There are also dump cars used in the coke service having a floor sloping toward one side of the car with the side wall comprising a plurality of swingable doors to discharge the coke all on one side of the car. My invention is adaptable to any one of the above described cars,'or in fact, to any car having two or more doors simultaneously closed by a single operative mechanism.

PMEN O F Figs. 2, 3 and4 show a construction wherein the spreader55 is loosely connected to each door. The spreader and the doors may be to engage locking mechanisms supported by a and secured to the side of the car.

A common form of locking mechanism comprises a book 70 which falls into place by gravity and engages the extremities 71' of the spreader, which hook is held in place by a locking cam 7 2. In some cars these outside locking mechanisms constitute the only means of holding the spreader and the doors in closed position. Whenit is desired to use such a locking mechanism I extend my spreaders so that their extremities may engage such locking mechanisms. 1

The accompanying drawing illustrates the preferred form of the invention, though it'is to be understood that the invention "isnot limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as it is obvious that various modifications thereof; within the scope of the claims, will occur to' persons 7 skilled in the art. o

v This is a division of my co-pending application Serial No.' 332,326, filed January 14,

I claim: I. In a railway car, a pair of hinged dump- 4 ing doors, each provided with a cylindrical bearing, and a spreader having spaced apart cylindrical journals engaging said bearings so as to permit pivotal movement between the door and the spreader about a substantially vertical axis. c

2. In a railway car, a pair of hinged dumping doors, each provided with a T shaped groove forming a cylindrical bearing, and a spreader having spaced partportions, each connected to one of said doors so as to permit slidable movement and pivotal move men-t between the door and the spreader.

WALTER P. MURPHY. 

